The invention relates to a dual blade cutter. More particularly, the invention relates to a cutter which has two blades, which together allow the cutter to follow and cut convex, concave, or flat objects, without cutting or gouging underlying surfaces.
Since the product tampering scares of the early ""80s, nearly every potentially contaminable consumer product is now packaged using some type of tamper-proof or tamper-evident packaging. Typically such packaging includes a plastic wrapping which is heat-shrunk around the container cap.
To open the cap, the consumer must break or cut this wrapping. However, even though perforations or score marks are often provided in the wrapping, it is still difficult and often time consuming to fully remove the wrapping. In addition, women with long fingernails can find it impossible to break the wrapping without breaking a nail.
Conventional cutting tools are not well suited for cutting packaging. One common attempted technique is to straddle the bottle with a pair of open scissors. However, such a technique is usually unsuccessful in cutting the wrapping, might damage the underlying surface, or might lead to injury.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,612 to Takeshita et al. discloses a plastic bottle cutting implement which comprises a cylindrical ring which extends around the bottle, and a cutting implement directed toward the interior of the ring. Takeshita is only suitable for cutting bottles within a specific diameter range, and is not readily adaptable for cutting other curved surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,381 to Gelardi et al. discloses a wrap cutter which has wings which are separated by a ninety degree angle, and a cutting point therebetween. Gelardi et al. is particularly configured for cutting along the edgeof a package having right angles.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.
It is an object of the invention to produce a cutter which is particularly well suited for cutting curved packaging or curved bottle wrappings. Accordingly, two blades are provided which will follow both convex and concave objects according to the blade chosen by the user.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a cutter which maintains the blade at an ideal cutting angle. Accordingly a guard is positioned between the two blades, wherein the cutting surfaces of both blades ate oriented toward the guard which is particularly helpful in cutting thin, flexible, tough material, such as those commonly used in packaging applications.
It is a still further object of the invention that the cutter is safe, whereas its configuration minimizes the chance of injury to the user. Accordingly, the relative positioning of the guard and blades make direct punctures, relatively difficult, and make other injuries less likely. Further, the retractable blade feature allows the cutter to be safely stored and virtually eliminates the chances of injury when the cutter is not in use.
The invention is a cutter, for cutting various surfaces having various curvatures, having a blade assembly and a housing. The blade assembly includes a first blade and a second blade, each having an inner edge and an outer edge, and a guide mounted between the first blade and second blade adjacent to the inner edges thereof. The first blade has a first cutting surface and the second blade has a second cutting surface which are each oriented toward the guide. The first cutting surface is convex toward the guide and the second cutting surface, is concave toward the guide, wherein the user may cut concave or convex surfaces by selectively using one of the blades.